memeorandum: On frigid Capitol Hill, Trump's impeachment goes down just like the Founders drew it up (Will Bunch/The Philadelphia Inquirer)

7:50 AM ET, December 19, 2019

Top Items:

Anna Palmer / Politico:

First in POLITICO Playbook: Mark Meadows to leave Congress, plus what McConnell will say on impeachment — “OBVIOUSLY, I'VE LOOKED AT THIS AS A TEMPORARY JOB,” Meadows told us in an interview Wednesday, speaking of serving in the House. “Endorsed term limits — never ran on a term-limit pledge.

Discussion: NBC News, Bloomberg, Washington Post, CNN, Political Wire, The Hill, The Week, Contemptor and Twitchy

John Bresnahan / Politico:

Pelosi threatens to delay Senate impeachment trial — Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to commit Wednesday to delivering articles of impeachment to the Senate, citing concerns about an unfair trial on removing President Donald Trump from office. — Senior Democratic aides said the House was …

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:

Pelosi says House may withhold impeachment articles, delaying Senate trial — Moments after a historic vote to impeach President Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House could at least temporarily withhold the articles from the Senate — a decision, she suggested …

Discussion: The Week, CNN, National Review, The Hill, The Moderate Voice, Breitbart and DNyuz

Kamala D. Harris / New York Times:

Will McConnell Let the Senate Hold a Fair Impeachment Trial? — Every one of my colleagues has an obligation to pursue the truth, regardless of the politics. — Ms. Harris is a Democratic senator from California. — Today the House of Representatives will vote on whether to impeach President Trump.

Discussion: The Hill and Axios

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Senate Republicans pray Trump won't tweet during trial — Senate Republicans can theoretically control President Donald Trump's impeachment trial. But there's one thing they have no power over: Trump's itchy Twitter fingers. — And Senate Republicans, who loathe the president's tweeting …

Discussion: Washington Post and Raw Story

Al Weaver / The Hill:

Mark Meadows, top Trump ally, to retire from Congress — Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), a top ally of President Trump, announced Thursday morning that he will retire from Congress at the end of his term. — Meadows, a four-term lawmaker who represents part of western North Carolina …

Discussion: DNyuz, Townhall and NBC News

Washington Post:

Inside the decision to impeach Trump: How both parties wrestled with a constitutional crisis — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sat quietly at the head of the long table inside her ornate conference room early this month, listening as her deputies debated the last major decision in the impeachment of President Trump.

Discussion: New York Times

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

Trump is impeached and joins the ‘losers’ of presidential history — On an almost entirely party-line vote, the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump on two articles of impeachment. He is only the third president to receive that black mark on his record. Understandably, he hates it.

Discussion: LGBTQ Nation, Raw Story, Vox and The Moderate Voice

Washington Post:
Trump is impeached by the House, creating an indelible mark on his presidency

Discussion: New York Times, Outside the Beltway, Power Line and The Guardian

ABC News:
Donald Trump becomes 3rd president in US history to be impeached

Discussion: Axios, The Daily Beast, PJ Media Home, The Wrap, Breitbart, The Hill, The Moderate Voice and Sputnik News

Alayna Treene / Axios:
Rep. Mark Meadows to retire in 2020

Discussion: Political Wire

McClatchy Washington Bureau:
How Trump's impeachment could trip up 2020 Democrats as they sprint towards Iowa

Discussion: Axios, Informed Comment and The Hill

Gabby Orr / Politico:
Impeachment day for Trump: A bruised ego, a Twitter eruption and a winding rally

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Wall Street Journal, DNyuz and NBC News

Dareh Gregorian / NBC News: Trump impeached by the House for abuse of power, obstruction of Congress

Marc Fisher / Washington Post: As goes his presidency, so goes his impeachment: Trump disrupts and divides

Robin Givhan / Washington Post:
Nancy Pelosi's pin at the impeachment debate was a declaration: The republic will survive this

Discussion: New York Times and HuffPost

Laura Davison / Bloomberg:
Key Senate Republican Bucks McConnell to Push for Drug Pricing

Discussion: Raw Story

ABC News:
House debates historic vote on impeaching President Trump: Live updates

Discussion: HuffPost, Associated Press, The Hill, DNyuz, One America News Network, The Daily Beast, Vox, Hullabaloo, Twitchy, Raw Story, HotAir, NBC News, Reuters and The New Civil Rights Movement

Scott Bixby / The Daily Beast:

Tulsi Gabbard Votes ‘Present’ in Impeachment Against Trump — The Democrat has missed nearly 90 percent of the votes held in the House of Representatives over the past two months. On Wednesday, she dodged the biggest vote of her career. — As the House of Representatives debated …

Discussion: Reason, Althouse, Vox, The Daily Caller, BuzzFeed News, HuffPost, Joe.My.God. and New York Times

Axios:
Which Democrats voted against Trump's impeachment

Discussion: New York Times

Byron York / Washington Examiner: ANALYSIS: In impeachment vote, how Republicans got to zero

Dareh Gregorian / NBC News:
Tulsi Gabbard votes ‘present’ on Trump impeachment articles

Discussion: The Daily Caller and DNyuz

Dareh Gregorian / NBC News:

Trump makes 'hell'-acious crack about deceased Rep. John Dingell, wife responds — The president spoke about the former lawmaker at a campaign rally in his home state of Michigan. — President Donald Trump made a macabre quip about late Democratic Rep. John Dingell at his rally in Michigan …

Discussion: Mediaite, FOX40, Breitbart, Bloomberg, WWTV-TV/WWUP-TV and Associated Press

Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:

Rep. Debbie Dingell Responds to Trump Suggesting Her Late Husband is in Hell — As Donald Trump told a crowd in Battle Creek that the deceased Michigan Representative John Dingell might be in hell, his widow Debbie Dingell, who occupies his former seat, was back in Washington on the House floor as Democrats voted to impeach him.

Discussion: Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, CNN, The Hill, Washington Post and WGN-TV

George T. Conway III / The Atlantic:

Donald Trump Made His Own Impeachment Inevitable — As rare as impeachments may be, today's impeachment of Donald Trump, president of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors was pretty much inevitable. — It was inevitable because of Trump himself, his very character …

Discussion: Washington Post and ABC News

David A. Graham / The Atlantic: The Stain of Impeachment Will Last Forever

Stephen Rex Brown / New York Daily News:

Surveillance footage outside of Jeffrey Epstein's cell during first suicide attempt is missing — Surveillance footage of the outside of Jeffrey Epstein's cell at the troubled Metropolitan Correctional Center during his first suicide attempt has gone missing, prosecutors revealed Wednesday.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Breitbart, DNyuz, Big League Politics, The Gateway Pundit and Axios

Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Envoy to Ukraine Was Asked to Step Aside Ahead of Pompeo Visit — Timing counters earlier suggestions that Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor's precise departure date was predetermined — Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor was instructed by a top aide to Secretary …

Paul Demko / Politico:

Court voids Obamacare mandate — but not the whole law — Lower court must now reconsider fate of the full statute — A federal appeals court on Wednesday struck down Obamacare's individual mandate in a decision that immediately thrusts the health care law to the forefront of the 2020 elections.

Discussion: Axios, The Hill, NBC News, Raw Story, The Root and TheBlaze

Ian Millhiser / Vox:
The Republican judges who were widely expected to kill Obamacare got cold feet

Discussion: National Review

Betsy Swan / The Daily Beast:

Trump Administration Battles New Sanctions on Russia — On Tuesday, President Trump claimed he was tougher on Russia than his predecessor. At the same time, his subordinates strongly opposed a bill imposing new sanctions on Moscow. — The Trump administration is quietly fighting …

Discussion: The Week and Raw Story

Associated Press:

Putin: Trump impeachment ‘far-fetched,’ Senate will acquit — MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin called the U.S. impeachment process “far-fetched” Thursday, making a seemingly obvious prediction that Donald Trump will be acquitted in the Senate.

Discussion: Axios

CNN:

CNN Poll: Joe Biden holds lead heading into December debate — (CNN)Joe Biden continues to hold a lead in the race for the Democratic nomination for president and remains the candidate potential Democratic voters think has the best shot to defeat Donald Trump, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS.

Vandana Rambaran / Fox News:
2020 Dem candidates react to impeachment votes: ‘A sad moment’

Discussion: One America News Network and Associated Press

Lara Seligman / Foreign Policy:

Pentagon's Policy Chief Under Fire as Senior Officials Head for the Exits — Current and former officials point to John Rood as a major source of frustration in the U.S. Defense Department policy shop. — Three years into U.S. President Donald Trump's administration …

Discussion: Defense News

Ellen Mitchell / The Hill:
Fourth Pentagon official announces resignation within week

Discussion: Axios and Defense News

Terry Spencer / Associated Press:

Chinese national arrested for illegally entering Mar-a-Lago — FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A Chinese national trespassed at President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club Wednesday and was arrested when she refused to leave, police said, the second time this year a woman from that country …

Miami Herald: Woman arrested for trespassing at Trump's Mar-a-Lago is another Chinese national

New York Times:

Twelve Million Phones, One Dataset, Zero Privacy — EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY, everywhere on the planet, dozens of companies — largely unregulated, little scrutinized — are logging the movements of tens of millions of people with mobile phones and storing the information in gigantic data files.

Discussion: Slate

Christopher Miller / BuzzFeed News:

Rudy Giuliani Flew To Ukraine On A Budget Flight. But He Left On A Private Jet. — Rudy Giuliani flew to Kyiv on a budget airline when he visited earlier this month — but he left in style, on a private jet. — It was the afternoon of December 4 when Giuliani flew to the Ukrainian capital …